Child Birth

Note: I'm in New York to pick up Em and bring her home again. But it's 1:30 AM here, and while I'm too awake to go to bed, it being just 10:30 in my brain, I'm also too discombobulated (one of my all-time favorite words, by the way; it's right up there with perspicacious and sardonic and a few others) to write anything of note. And so I give you a quick and amusing, but ultimately substanceless, anecdote:

While in New York, Em had lunch with one of her uncles, whom she loves dearly, but with whom she has never managed to spend any time alone. Apparently, they had a very grown-up lunch in the cafeteria of the high-profile weekly newsmagazine for which he works, and they were having a very grown-up conversation to go with it. At one point, J reported, Em was describing the circumstances of her birth, complete with the details of her meconium aspiration and eventual emergency c-section. When she'd reached the end of her story, she'd summed it up with a weary sigh: "I had a very hard labor," she said.

Yeah? Well, you and me both, kiddo.